Media today are increasingly focused on sustainability topics – including how information technology (IT) can improve sustainability. Most coverage addresses IT as an enabler of "Green IT," the reduction of energy use in data centres. But there is a greater opportunity in sustainable business practices. Consider, for example, the energy consumption of the IT and communications industries, which causes about two percent of overall greenhouse gas, with data centres playing a significant and growing role in that consumption¹. However, with over 183,000 customers across more than 25 industries, SAP is positioned to bring about far greater change than just its own footprint by helping customers address the other 98 percent.

Faced with challenging and complex business processes to address sustainability, companies need – and want – a consistent and integrated business process to address sustainability initiatives. You see the potential for return on investment (ROI), you need to protect your brand, and you want to proactively manage risk and compliance.

SAP offerings can empower you to:

• Reduce cost of compliance and reduced business risk in the face of proliferating local, regional and global regulation in the areas of people, health and safety, product safety and stewardship, and environmental compliance. You can leapfrog the competition by embracing consistent practices across the business network for competitive differentiation.
• Protect and enhance brand value, market share and market capitalisation by employing best business practices in sustainability performance management, including risk management and strategy management. Effectively engage all relevant stakeholders with visible and accessible analytics.
• Optimise energy and natural resource efficiency of your company's manufacturing processes for reduced cost and emissions. You can leverage advanced metering infrastructure solutions for utilities to optimise customers' energy consumption.
• Measure, mitigate and monetise greenhouse gas emissions and other environmental impacts across internal operations and the supply chain. Using SAP Carbon Impact, you can reduce the cost of maintaining a comprehensive carbon emissions inventory, manage regulatory changes and enhance your brand value by providing transparency into sustainability initiatives.
• Establish Green IT practices to architect and deliver business processes in the most energy-efficient way possible. You can create an environmentally sustainable data centre and IT operations that reduce costs, while improving process quality.

Preparing for Tomorrow

Sustainability is a key strategic initiative for SAP. As we help you meet your current needs, we are also researching additional sustainability solutions that can help you address challenges.

¹ "Report to Congress on Server and Data Center Efficiency, Public Law 109-431"; United States Environmental Protection Agency, ENERGY STAR Program (August 2, 2007)